Wyoming repatriates inmates from Mississippi following staffing improvements

The Wyoming Department of Corrections has repatriated 240 inmates from the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi back to Wyoming. The inmates were originally sent out of state in 2023 due to severe staffing shortages that left some facilities, such as the Wyoming State Penitentiary, with only 65% uniformed staff. Director Dan Shannon noted that improved recruitment and salary increases have raised staffing levels to over 83% at the state penitentiary.

Parallel to these administrative changes, educational initiatives within Wyoming prisons are seeing success. Through the ‘Pathways from Prison’ program, a cohort of six women at the Wyoming Women’s Center in Lusk recently became the first to earn four-year bachelor’s degrees in general studies from the University of Wyoming.

However, the department faces ongoing legal challenges. A federal lawsuit has been filed by a former inmate alleging sexual violence and ‘deliberate indifference to the rights and safety of inmates’ by prison staff and leadership at the Wyoming Women’s Center.